Rereading + James Bond | The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/books/series/rereading+film/jamesbond
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When Ian Fleming tried to escape James Bondhttps://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/oct/26/when-ian-fleming-tried-to-escape-james-bond
With The Spy Who Loved Me, Ian Fleming took an ambitious gamble: abandoning Bond for much of the book in favour of a female narrator. As Skyfall opens, Richard Williams remembers a surprising heroine<p>Vivienne Michel is perhaps the least well-known of the women for whom Ian Fleming arranged assignations with James Bond, and yet none of her more celebrated sisters, from <a href="http://jamesbond.wikia.com/wiki/Vesper_Lynd" title="">Vesper Lynd</a> through <a href="http://jamesbond.wikia.com/wiki/Tatiana_Romanova" title="">Tatiana Romanova</a> and <a href="http://jamesbond.wikia.com/wiki/Pussy_Galore" title="">Pussy Galore</a> to the <a href="http://jamesbond.wikia.com/wiki/Tracy_Bond" title="">Countess Teresa di Vicenzo</a>, succeeded in engaging the author's interest to the same extent. To her alone is accorded the honour of a Bond book written entirely in her voice, with 007 making a late appearance in a supporting role. And although, unlike some of the others, she survived to tell the tale, she was destined to suffer a different kind of literary death.</p><p>Few novelists in Fleming's position, riding the public's voracious appetite for the adventures of a fictional hero, would opt for the sort of risk that he took with <em>The Spy Who Loved Me</em> in 1962. By the time he came to write the ninth of his Bond books, the already massive popularity of his creation was about to be transformed, by the release of the film of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/movie/85424/dr-no" title=""><em>Dr No</em></a>, into a cultural phenomenon. Yet his health was starting to collapse, along with his interest in maintaining the formula established with the publication of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/data/book/thrillers/9780141187587/casino-royale" title=""><em>Casino Royale</em></a>, Bond's debut, nine years earlier. His response to an inner urge for novelty, and perhaps a desire for a more elevated kind of acclaim, was to employ an entirely different voice and to hold back the appearance of his celebrated protagonist until after the halfway point of the story.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/oct/26/when-ian-fleming-tried-to-escape-james-bond">Continue reading...</a>BooksCultureIan FlemingFictionThrillersFilmJames BondThrillerSkyfallFri, 26 Oct 2012 21:57:12 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/oct/26/when-ian-fleming-tried-to-escape-james-bondPhotograph: Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis'An inner urge for novelty': Fleming in his study. Photograph: Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CorbisPhotograph: Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis'An inner urge for novelty': Fleming in his study. Photograph: Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CorbisRichard Williams2012-10-26T21:57:12Z